Community Calling

"Health care is vital to all of us some of the

time, but public health is vital to all of us all

of the time"

- (C. Everett Koop in Keleher & MacDougall, 2011).

Starting this semester we are looking at Public Health. I prefer calling it Community Health as I recently felt a passion to help in the community. Often we look overseas to where we are needed but after a small debate with a friend, I have really come to realise something. Your local community needs you just as much. As a nursing student I am learning skills that will benefit me and others wherever I am but I've always dreamt of going overseas to help in Africa. This paper has begun to really attacked my own, selfish thoughts, and I'm realising I need to pause in my dreams of working overseas and instead impact and assist the people in my own community.

There is a group called Urban Vision who have some incredible principles that I value. It is about community and getting to people beyond the walls of the Church. A couple I know have moved from this spacious clean house to within the community in a small, dingy flat but they are among the people who they wish to impact. I think that is something key about Urban Vision, they are helping from within. They relate to the people, they aren't people who say things but don't live it and this makes them trusted and appreciated by the people they are working with. Even today we were creating a video about what we dream for the Church nationwide and what we value. I don't know what some of the other participants said but I value the opportunities that come from Church, how it's strengthened my life and values I value the people I meet and the impact they have on my life and how they have helped me grow. I dream that the Church helps locally nationwide, to move out of the building's restraints and live in the community as they people we say we are. I understand that help is needed overseas but help is also needed among the people we live among everyday. 

I wanted to become a nurse after reading some books about a fiction nurse called Sue Barton. The one book that really stood out for me was when she worked as a Henry Street Nurse. They work among the poor people in New York, tending to people's health but also being available and known and trusted by the community.  It made me dream of working among a community where I can really help and as I've said earlier, I always looked overseas. Instead I should have been looking much closer to home and the heart to the people in my own community and country. One story that stood out about the impact they had within people lives was about an old lady who had recently moved and she had lost her spark. Sue had no idea at first how to help her as she was physically well, but as nurses learn, it's about holistic care. All the old lady desired was to sit on the street and watch lives go on about her, be amongst the bustle and the life and was what made her life content. Another story was about finding a home for a baby who's mother was unable to care for, and another family that could not have children and thus the wife was depressed. Sue connected the dots and connected the family, giving life again to the wife with a child and giving peace to the mother about the future of her child.

Basically what I'm telling myself from this post is I need to understand where I can help right here where I am in the world, before I work overseas. Get to know my community and the needs of the community I live in before I can help in another community.

Senses

So it's been 18days since my baptism on Easter Sunday and I just wanted to have a small reflection. Baptism is a big step, a declaration and it's provided me a great opportunity to talk to people about myself that I normally wouldn't. I'm definitely more open about being Christian which has been something I've not been so good at in the past. The main difference I've noticed is a sense of calm and peace, a reassurance. I know I have God on my side, He's still providing me with strength and security that I wouldn't have in myself before. I've been pushing myself because I know He's got my back. And I love this feeling and I love this dedication I have made to God in my life. It's really helped me realise what is important and understand parts of who I am more.

On another note, I've been on my nursing placement for nearly two weeks now and it has been an incredible experience! I've been in a physical rehab ward with 20beds and such a variety in patients and opportunities I have really grown with my nursing. This placement is definitely more nursing orientated with skills and roles, with medications, wounds, paperwork, assessments etc, and we don't really do as many cares any more. Most of the girls are quite pleased with that, but I honestly miss it. I enjoy doing cares as it provides a time in the morning to talk with your patient and get to know their routine. However one thing I do really love about this placement in comparison to rest home work is you see the patients improve and progress and leave to go back home. That makes me happy, to know that from when they first came in, and with your assistance they are now independently able to go home and live how they used to. One of our criteria is to develop a care plan for one patient, and my patient is leaving tomorrow which is sad but I'm also glad to know that he's progressed enough to be fit to go home. I went and said goodbye to him tonight and it was funny thinking I hope I never see you again because I don't want you to become injured or unwell again. But I guess that's part of being a nurse, you assist where you can but it's a specific period of time in which you can interact with them.

One experience I've had on the ward was actually my first fainting. I was watching a DR put an IV cannula into a lady and I had been on my feet for ages, and then standing still whilst watching wasn't helping. At first it felt like there was water all through me and I could feel myself spinning a little but i just shuffled my feet and tried to get the blood moving. I leant over to look closer and then I woke up on the floor wedged between the bed and the beside table. I remember feeling like I was asleep and that it was all a dream, and because I was so exhausted I really didn't want to wake up and was really confused when it was the Dr and my partner in front of me. The main thing I felt after this was disappointment in myself because I felt weak, and pathetic especially since it wasn't even a gory sight, there was no blood at all. So it was mainly from exhaustion, but it was definitely an experience to remember.

Other things that have made my experience incredible have been small interactions with patients, small jokes, them asking for you, hearing their story and just a smile in return. I know it sounds cheesy but it's definitely the small things, and the patients that make nursing so awesome. You go home and am pleased by the day when one person smiled who normally doesn't, when one person was strong enough to take an extra few steps, when they are able to do something independently, as small as holding a fork, or washing their face. These small things make each day wonderful and make you look forward to going back. I know I look forward to seeing how some people progress and just continuing to talk to others, getting to know what they were like, what they love and just being there for them. I believe that is the core to nursing, is acknowledging the small things and recognizing the individualism and who they are.

Recently I have attended many baptisms and each time I've felt the pull to get baptized myself. I have considered it for years but for some reason never said yes. When my friend approached me about a baptism service on Easter Sunday I said yes even though I was about 10% certain. Baptism is a public declaration of your faith in God and there are many different opinions about it. I attend an Anglican church where infants are baptized as the parents dedication of their child to God and the start of their journey, but I grew up in a Baptist church where infants are not baptized. It is left to the older individual, when and if, they get baptized, hence my baptism at the age of 18.

I believe there is little requirement of baptism in your relationship with God, unlike other denominations where baptism is a step required in the journey. Baptism for me is an act of dedication that I can personally give to God, as well as an opportunity to share His love through the actual day with inviting friends who may not attend church but to come simply as my friend. It's not about the day itself, who turns up and who doesn't, but more about a step in my relationship, a commitment of my faith with God.

We were talking in a group, I've been attending for lent, about the reason we come to church. It is said that 80% of christian youth lose their faith when they attend university because of the freedoms and the priorities that change. These next few years are the most important in my life regarding my faith. This concerns me because I know my faults as I often put other things first such as an assignment that is due, rather than praying for a friend I know needs it. I also often don't feel like attending church, but instead go for the social element. We were talking about the importance to have God in our everyday lives, the holy of holy is everywhere, accessible. My faith is important to me, but a challenge to me personally is to really integrate my faith into my everyday approach, prayer, perspectives, behaviour.

The point of this post was about the idea I had for my baptism. I was talking to a friend about her baptism and her sister had chosen a song that they played for her, and I really liked that. B also told me how I should write some songs, and so I thought I could write a song specifically for my baptism. It's considerably harder than I thought but I'm really enjoying the process so far. B is great with music so that helps, and he'll help me record it. But for me to write the lyrics is really hard. I've never been good with words, especially when they matter and I don't trust myself and what I might say.

Until a night last week I was thinking about how it had to be perfect for me, my story, my testimony, but after talking to my friend Katja, she was saying how God doesn't want it to be perfect, He is pleased no matter how it compares to human standards. He is pleased by our hearts, not our results. This really helped me with comprehending the idea that my song is not really for myself, or the others who will hear it, but a means for me to talk to God and for Him to hear me. That's why I've started it by simply saying God please listen to my heart for the right words. Since saying that I've found it easier to write a few things but to be honest, it will never be good enough for me. But it will be more than enough for God and through this process I've really challenged myself with what I feel and love about my life with God.